GeekDad Book Review: The Optimist's Tour of the Future

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GeekDad Book Review: The Optimist's Tour of the Future

Sometime in the future, you are going to die. Depending on how old you are at the moment, I might be right there with you, wherever we go (if anywhere) when we die. But this isn't a conversation about what happens after we die, because that would take a tome of arguments and beliefs to even think about coming to some sort of agreement. Rather, this is a conversation of what happens before you die — specifically, keeping yourself from dying. The Optimist's Tour of the Future takes a long journey around the world, delving into the most radical and outlying theories on prolonging life, the future of the Earth and technology, and even climate change. Author Mark Stevenson is hopeful for the future of humanity, but admits (and readily researches) that a lot of things need to happen proactively for humanity to have a chance going into the unknown.

The Optimist's Tour of the Future tosses you right into the fray with talk of "transhumanism." Basically, transhumanism is a movement, a theory, that seeks to prolong our life here on Earth utilizing modern gains in technology in order for us to fight aging and live forever. It's a very interesting theory, with a lot of plot holes. For instance, in one section Stevenson went to talk to a group of intellectuals who don't believe that transhumanism might be possible, but that it is (or soon will be) and are planning as such. He noted they were all smoking after a lecture, the reason being is that most of them believe that all their problems will be fixed when it comes to merging technology and humanity. Of course, they might want to start saving for those new lungs now. As evidenced in the sci-fi/fantasty Repo Men, new organs aren't cheap. That was fiction, but at this point, so is transhumanism.

The main limitation to being human is of course, death. Transhumanism supposes that we can prolong that inevitability. So in order to do that, Stevenson takes us on a journey through multiple schools of thought and philosophy when it comes to the prospect of living forever, examining not only whether we can live forever, but as well as whether we should. Stevenson takes a dry wit approach to a lot of this information that is being presented to him, by researchers and intellectuals who truly believe in the work they are doing. Stevenson never talks down to them, but rather supports their theories with additional research (and pages upon pages of citations found in the appendix of the book). However optimistic he remains, he also appears to be skeptical in the sense that seeing is believing. Theory is all well and good, but tangible truth is better.

It's with this general naivety, but understanding (at least on the educational and comprehensible level) that Stevenson carries us along on his journey through Transhumanism and onto robotics. With plenty of references to IBM's Deep Blue, and robots joining together and taking over humanity (a la Skynet), the journey through the future of robotics seems a bit more real. There are major advances being made in the field, especially when it comes to producing actual "thinking" robots. I really enjoyed this section of the book, as Stevenson offers some interesting paradoxes and theories about robotics, that believe it or not, I hadn't thought of.

For instance, his visit to M.I.T. introduces him to "thinking" robots, so the question arises as to what is "thought" when it comes to robots? Do they "think" like humans? It's the deductive reasoning that is the issue: it's less thinking than it is behavior and deconstructing and reconstructing human language and interactions. So Stevenson introduces us to work being done on "social" robots that are more focused on the behavior aspect of being human, rather than the thought. This is very interesting, especially when he mentions how his reactions to these social robots was very human. Stevenson does a very adept job at this point of explaining what he is experiencing in his interactions with the robotics, leaving plenty of room for more citations and history.

A great theory that is mentioned here, that I want to mention because I find it absolutely fascinating, is based around teaching robots to think. Instead of teaching them to think like an adult human, which is our general thought and instinct, we should teach them to think like infants or toddlers. Then at that point, educate them and program them to learn, as would a growing human. If we were able to do this with one robot, then at that point unlike growing multiple humans, we'd be able to simply then transfer that cumulative knowledge and learned behavior to the next robot. In this (and among the numerous additional citations in the back) we begin to understand and consider the possibilities of robotics as they apply to enhancing not only our lives, but longevity of such.

From here, Stevenson travels to something that is more controversial than robotics ever will be - climate change and global warming. This part of the book, in which all the other parts will be a moot point unless we fix the planet, focuses on just that - fixing the damn planet. On a subject that would normally be dull and possibly boring, Stevenson delivers the gathered knowledge of various experts to us with a hint of English wit and a lot of entertaining hyperbole. Stevenson knows this is a touchy subject for a lot of people, and never lets us think that he's entrenched in one camp or the other. He speaks to proponents on both sides of the debate, leaving it up to us to really make the decision as to where we stand in the matter of fixing the world.

To wit; this section of the book also deals heavily with alternative energy sources. So while the debate about climate change is covered, there is also the opportunity to learn more about what is being done to alleviate the energy demands and destruction of our current energy infrastructure. From solar panels as thin as paper, able to be pasted onto a backpack for portable energy, to machines that pull the CO2 out of the atmosphere and make it reusable. What is interesting here though, is that while there is plenty being done to research and put into production solutions for the future of the planet, the government support behind such projects (at least in the United States) is terrible to say the least. The revelations and citations here (another billion of them) are worth the cover price of this book alone. The bottom line when it comes to climate change is that the technology to save the world is there, the government support is not - and that is simply scary.

In theory, The Optimist's Tour of the Future supposes that there is plenty to be optimistic about, but from my point of view it's a bit disheartening because the reality of many of these things are so far away. I suppose then that optimism is the right word, that either I or my children will see these advances in technology before we pass. Either way, Stevenson does a great job of delivering all the facts with a sense of wonder and true curiosity. Mix that with a dose of humor and actual understanding of what is being presented to him and you have a very coherent and entertaining journey through the world of future technology. Stevenson never makes you, the reader, feel left behind and often turns to the use of pop culture analogies to illustrate his examples. For anyone interested in what the future holds, I highly recommend this book.